Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX-V: XIM) (FRA: 1XMA) (OTCQB:XXMMF) After Ximen’s option partner released its high-grade tellurium results from the Gold Drop Property the Company received numerous enquiries asking for information about Tellurium and its uses.

• COD18-67: 129 g/t gold, 1,154 g/t silver and 823 g/t tellurium over 7.28-metre core length;
• COD18-70: 107 g/t gold, 880 g/t silver and 640 g/t tellurium over 6.90-metre core length.

Tellurium Facts

• Tellurium is on a list of 35 mineral commodities deemed critical to security and prosperity of the United States.
• Pending tellurium shortages due to traditional recovery methods becoming obsolete.

Tellurium is a chemical element with symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, rare, silver-white metalloid. It is extremely rare in the Earth’s crust, comparable to that of platinum. The U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, Tellurium —The Bright Future of Solar Energy explains that tellurium’s primary use is for manufacturing films essential to thin film photovoltaic solar cells. When alloyed with other elements such as cadmium, tellurium forms a compound that exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity. A thin film can efficiently absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity.

The past decade has seen an explosive growth in the production of thin film solar panels. According to Global Market Insights, thin film cadmium telluride solar panel production which today accounts for 40% of Tellurium consumption is expected to grow from $8 billion in 2016 to over $30 billion by 2024. At present there are dozens of large-scale solar farms built or underway throughout the world. These massive solar farms mainly utilize advanced thin film cadmium telluride technology. In addition, many corporations, institutions, schools and universities are building solar arrays.

Pictured below is a section of India’s giant Pavagada Solar Park. Covering an area of 13,000 acres and achieving an output of 2,700 Mega Watts, Pavagada is currently the world’s largest solar park.

In addition to its burgeoning use in the solar power industry and its metallurgical applications with copper and stainless steel, Tellurium is finding new uses in the semi-conductor industry for example in the new phase change memory chips developed by Intel.

As the use of Tellurium in thin film solar applications grows, governments and industry have expressed concerns about the supply of tellurium to meet future demand. Most of the world’s tellurium comes from copper refining. However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has noted that, due to declining copper grades worldwide, “New copper recovery processes…are being considered for implementation, but these methods do not recover tellurium. As a result, alternative sources for this critical element must be considered.”

Al Beaton, P.Eng., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and Advisor to Ximen Mining Corp., is responsible for the technical information contained in this News Release.

About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100 percent interest in all three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC. Ximen`s two Gold projects are The Gold Drop Project and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past-producing Huldra Silver Mine. Currently both the Gold Drop Project and the Treasure Mountain Silver Project are under option agreements. The option partners are making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of these projects.